"Throughout history God has spoken. For millennia, he has forged his children’s faith by promising parted waters, empowering unlikely leaders, declaring world-changing prophecies-and imparting last-minute sermons to pastors who questioned whether he really would deliver. In short, our God is communicating God. Always has been, and always will be.

And if there is one story in Scripture that goes to great lengths to prove this point, it’s the story of Elijah, the prophet described in 1 Kings as a man who was 'zealous for God.' There comes a point in Elijah’s remarkable ministry when his zealotry has fizzled to zero. He is ready to call it quits. 'I've been working my heart out,' he says to God, 'and for what? The people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed the places of worship and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.' Elijah felt undone, and perhaps the only thing that could improve his mood was a firsthand encounter with God.

As the story goes, Elijah trekked into the desert and eventually collapsed from exhaustion under the shade of a tree...but eventually he ended up at Horeb...On Mount Horeb that day, Creator convened with creation, and one man’s life was forever changed. Regardless of what else Elijah might have later told his friends about this encounter--and about God himself--undoubtedly he had been a witness to two attributes at the very core of who God is: he’s relational and he is near. He is all-powerful, yes. He is righteous and holy too. He is sovereign, he majestic, he is magnificent, he is just. But what stunned Elijah on the side of the mountain--and what will stun you somebody if it hasn’t already--is that the same God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, all everything, yearns to be in relationship with us. The God of the Scriptures is irrepressibly communal, hopelessly familial, and his whispers are still ours to hear" (Hybels, page 40-42).

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